Labour pickets MTN, vows to disrupt operations nationwide

Organised Labour, yesterday, disrupted economic activities at Falomo head office of telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria, for alleged sharp practices.

Led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the affiliates vowed to disrupt the telecoms firm’s operations nationwide if it refuses to address their demands.

Brandishing placards and chanting solidarity songs, the workers barricaded strategic roads.

President and General Secretary of Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN), Opeyemi Tomori and Okonu Abdullahi, claimed that the telecommunications company “has continued to undermine the country’s economy through its industrial relations practices designed to emasculate workers.”

The labour centre alleged that the firm had remained adamant, insisting all workers’ stipulated condition of must remain.

The workers claimed that MTN Nigeria “is averse to international labour best practices, as depicted in International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98.”

The union listed “precarious work conditions, discriminatory remuneration and immediate stoppage of all obnoxious policy that threatens existence of the union and inhumane retirement benefits” as part of its grievances.

Chairman of NLC, Lagos State, Funmi Sessi, said they were on ground to support the workers and ensure their fundamental human rights are granted.

Reacting to the picketing, a top official of the organisation, who chose to remain silent, denied that the company does not allow unionisation, insisting that some of the staff PTECSSAN members.